Turkey stealing eggs

[EdC]

Okay, I'm really perplexed. We have a Tom and two hens. The hens were laying eggs almost daily, very consistently for several months. Then - suddenly, we couldn't find eggs. After a couple of weeks, I was mowing along a fence row and guess what - a next of about eight or ten Turkey eggs! Okay... mystery solved. We picked up the eggs, and tried to incubate them since the hen didn't seem to be brooding at all. Then for weeks, still no eggs. We tried searching the fence rows. No nests. Then the other day my wife sees a hen carrying an egg back towards the coop from the woods. Hmmmm... then last night a find four eggs, all busted.. in a row... leading from the woods across the pasture. I think we have a hen trying to move her eggs? How do we get them to roost in the coop? Thoughts?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

When you disturb the nest by picking up the eggs a turkey hen will move to a new spot.

I routinely feed my turkey eggs back to my turkeys, they always grab one and run with it, so what you saw was a hen trying to eat the egg without competition.

You need to keep your turkeys locked up if you want them to lay in their pen. A turkey will always prefer a hidden nest in the tall grass whether she's broody or not. Expect a lot of complaints from them for a while and pacing of the fence. Turkeys are single minded.

 

[EdC]

Great - thanks. I can do that.. Let me give it a try.